Everything Changes
by accioweasleys4
Summary: Ron can't figure out why Hermione is so sad after the Battle of Hogwarts, so he takes it upon himself to find out why. She still ends up keeping a few secrets from him and everybody else though. Warning: Post character death.


**A/N: I have a few NOTP's and I think Romione is one of them. I can't really ship them fully because Fremione is my OTP. I managed to get a good idea for a story, though it involves one character death. The title of this story may change if I think of something better. This was written for the fanfiction scavenger hunt, the three prompts challenge, and a few others probably. Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does.**

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Ron couldn't understand why Hermione had been distant ever since the battle of Hogwarts ended. She hadn't smiled, and she had tears in her eyes every time she thought nobody was looking. Hermione had once accused Ron of having an emotion range that was the size of a teaspoon, but he wanted to prove her wrong. He wanted to let her know that someone was paying attention to her. Somebody cared for her.

One night after dinner he saw her go outside. He started to get up, but George stopped him. "You might want to leave her alone now," he muttered quietly. Ron looked at his brother in surprise. Those were the first words he had heard him say since Fred's funeral.

"I can't…she's my best friend. She's hurting. She needs me." Ron couldn't continue pretending like he didn't have feelings for her, though he had to try.

"She can't talk to anybody," George said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We've tried… I've even tried."

Ron was surprised about that confession, especially since George had kept to himself, but he shrugged his hand off. "I won't try to talk about it then. I want to be there for her. Whatever it is she's going through." He walked off without giving George a chance to say another word and started looking for her.

He was about to head inside when he saw the door to the broom shed cracked open. Ron frowned and pushed the door open. He looked around and saw Hermione sitting on the floor with her head buried into her knees. He swallowed nervously and knelt beside her. His heart sank as he studied her. He had never seen her this upset before.

Ron slowly placed a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Ron…"she sniffled and tried to quickly wipe her tears away.

Ron gave her a shy smile to try to cheer her up. "Hi," he said softly, brushing a hair out of her face.

Hermione flinched at his touch and looked away. "You shouldn't have followed me…I don't want to talk to _anybody._"

"I didn't follow you…I just sort of found you," he said, shrugging his shoulders. Ok, he had followed her in a sense, but he hadn't known that she would be here. That counted as not following her, right? He thought to himself.

She shook her head. "I still don't want to talk."

"Hermione…what's wrong? I hate seeing you like this," Ron said, ignoring her pleas for him to leave her alone.

"I've never been better. Why did you ask?" she asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"This isn't really you. You don't cry easily…" he trailed off, not wanting to say anything that would upset her more. But it turned out that he already had.

"We've all been through a lot, Ron. This war changed us. We've all lost somebody. My parents died, and I don't even have…" she cut herself off when she realized what she was saying.

"Your parents died?" Ron asked in a hollowed voice. He sucked in a deep breath. It was no wonder why she wasn't talking to anybody. She must be blaming herself since she had erased their memories of her and allowed them to go on without her.

"That's why you've been so upset? Why didn't you tell us?" He wrapped his arms around her. She hesitated before she slowly hugged him back.

"Because…because of…"she took a deep breath. "Fr…" she trailed off as she looked like she was fighting off tears again.

"Because of Fred?" Ron asked, guessing that she had been trying to say his name. She closed her eyes and nodded a couple of times.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione." He hugged her tightly again. "I'm so sorry that you went through that alone. But you don't need to go through that alone anymore. I promise. We'll be here for you, ok?"

"I'm sorry I felt like I couldn't tell you…I just didn't want to bother you with this," Hermione answered quietly.

"You wouldn't have bothered us…will you come inside please? You're cold and I don't want you to get sick."

Hermione attempted to give him a small smile. "I will…but can I have five more minutes alone first, please?"

Ron looked down into her eyes first before nodding. "Yeah. I'll make you some hot chocolate. I'll see you inside." He gave Hermione another hug before walking back toward the house.

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**Hermione's POV**

Hermione let out a shaky breath when Ron left and looked out the window again. She should've told Ron the whole truth of what was wrong. She didn't know why she didn't tell him then, but she knew that she didn't want anybody knowing yet. She'd tell him soon.

She stood up a few moments later and saw George standing in the doorway. She jumped and met his eyes as he stared at her suspiciously. "You have to tell them," he muttered quietly.

Her blood rushed to her face. "Tell them what?" she asked, knowing by the look of his face that he knew.

"You have to tell them about Fred. He told me he loved you…before he died. You guys were going to start a real relationship after.. after the war ended.

Hermione swallowed. "I loved him too," she answered breathlessly.

George nodded. "I know…you were the best thing that happened to him."

Hermione felt guilty when George started to walk away. If anybody should know about her secret, it was him… "George…wait. I have to tell you something. But you can't tell anybody about this."

George gave her a questioning look, but nodded as he closed the door.

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**A/N: The next chapter or so will probably have more Romione in it. It won't be a long multi chapter story, just a few chapters most likely. Thanks for reading! **


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